Clean Power That Reaps a Whirlwind

NY Times ^ | May 9, 2007 | KEITH BRADSHER

[neverdem]

HOUXINQIU, China — The wind turbines rising 180 feet above this dusty village at the hilly edge of Inner Mongolia could be an environmentalist’s dream: their electricity is clean, sparing the horizon sooty clouds or global warming gases.

But the wind-power generators are also part of a growing dispute over a United Nations program that is the centerpiece of international efforts to help developing countries combat global warming.

That program, the Clean Development Mechanism, has become a kind of Robin Hood, raising billions of dollars from rich countries and transferring them to poor countries to curb the emission of global warming gases. The biggest beneficiary is no longer so poor: China, with $1.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, received three-fifths of the money last year.

Scientists increasingly worry about the emissions from developing countries, which may contribute to global environmental problems even sooner than previously expected. China is expected to pass the United States this year or next to become the world’s largest emitter of global warming gases. And as a result, some of the poorest countries are being left out.

That draws attention to the Clean Development Mechanism, which has grown at an extraordinary pace, to $4.8 billion in transfer payments to developing countries last year from less than $100 million in 2002.

The Clean Development Mechanism raises its money through a complex market in trading pollution credits: businesses and governments in affluent regions like Europe and Japan help pay to reduce pollution in poorer countries, offsetting their own emissions. This helps advanced industrial nations stay within their Kyoto Protocol limits for emitting climate-changing gases like carbon dioxide.

For each ton of global warming gases that a developing country can prove it has eliminated, the secretariat of the Clean Development Mechanism, in Bonn, Germany, awards it a credit. Developing...

[neverdem]

Ariana Lindquist for The New York Times
Li Guohai, a peasant near Houxinqiu, has had free electricity since the wind turbines were erected and has freed up money for a steel plow.

The New York Times
Wind turbines above Houxinqiu are part of a dispute on subsidies.
IMHO, I believe that anthropogenic, i.e. man made, global warming, also just called climate change in some newer jeremiads, has the potential to completely undermine the left and the United Nations. IIRC, the UN didn't bet the bank on the predicted global cooling in the mid 1970s. BTW, it will be fun to watch PETA take on the Chicoms.

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

i.e. man made, global warming, also just called climate change

Actually it was always called "climate change" outside of the US. The wacko leftists figured Americans like "change" and therefore might not react properly.

No, I am not kidding.

Of course, language differences also play a role too. German is a sister language and still "Globale Erwärmung" is more difficult to say than "Klima Änderung". 5 syllables vs. 6.

[rellimpank]

—since when have PETA,the ACLU or any of the other hard left interest groups “taken on” the Chicoms?

[P-40]

The biggest beneficiary is no longer so poor: China, with $1.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, received three-fifths of the money last year.

There is something really, really wrong with that.

[green iguana]

2008 Olympics - The Genocide Games. The protests have already started.

For those who don’t know, China is deeply involved in Sudan (Darfur.)